


tengu

by mathelode (engmaresh)



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Mythology References, Redemption, Tengu, Transformation, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26326018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/engmaresh/pseuds/mathelode
Summary: There are tales of a spirit creature that lives in the mountain ranges of the Earth Kingdom, a beast with the body of a bird and face of a beautiful woman. It is a terrible creature of sharp talons and a commanding voice, a fearsome tengu with long nails and eyes like a kite’s.Some say it haunts the abdicated King Wu, terrorizing him in his dreams. Others say the beast only rouses to fight the Avatar, when it sees some kind of injustice being done against its people.
Relationships: Korra & Kuvira (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19
Collections: We Die Like Fen 4: We Lived to Die Afen





	tengu

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shadaras](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadaras/gifts).



Kuvira’s taken into custody when they return from the Spirit World. She goes quietly, unable to relish even the look of horror on Suyin’s face as the police chief attempts to put shackles around her wrists. They only manage to fit after being bent wider. The police van lists sideways when she climbs in, so they make her sit on the floor. When it turns out the jail cells are now too small to accommodate her, they send her to the evacuated prison complex at the edge of the city, and leave her to roam around the empty floors.

The ground is stone. The bars are metal. It no longer matters. She cannot bend anymore. What she now does to pass the time: hop from railing to railing, squeezing into the individual cells that face outwards to watch the sunset. In the horizon she can see the lopped off skyscrapers of Republic City. It still burned for the first few days, the Spirit Weapon igniting unnatural fires that could not be put out by normal means. Then it rains at some point, and the last wisps of smoke fade away into the distance.

Korra comes on the fifth day. There are dark shadows under her eyes, and she looks worn and tired, but she brings with her a change of clothes and food that’s not plain congee.

“I’m sorry that took a while,” she says, laying out the baos and pouring two cups of tea. “It’s been--” she hesitates, “crazy.”

“Of course,” says Kuvira. She hasn’t spoken since they’ve put her in here and to her relief her voice sounds normal, instead of the harsh caw she’d almost expected. She has avoided looking into mirrors and reflections, out of fear that the next time she were to see her face, she would find it changed beyond recognition.

Korra takes her hand in hers. Kuvira’s fingers have curved into long hard talons, tipped with sharp claws at the end. Her knuckles are scabbed over with yellowish scales. It has made holding the teacup pretty difficult.

“I’m sorry I let this happen.”

Kuvira snorts. “Looks like your power isn’t everything after all.”

This makes Korra bristle. “I never claimed it was,” she says, voice rising. But she settles almost immediately. “Once I have the time, I will see what I can do to unmake this.”

“No need to rush,” says Kuvira. “Regardless of what happens, they’ll still put me away.” 

Korra picks at a bao. “They’re debating the chances of considering this time served. Not all of it, but some. Maybe.”

“Oh, really?” Kuvira has to scoff at the absurdity of it. “What kind of precedence is this going to set? Taking counsel from the spirits in matters of human justice?”

Korra’s face twists. “Avatar Aang was taught energybending by the lionturtles. It was how he managed to defeat Ozai.”

“I’m not Ozai.”

“No, you’re not,” Korra agrees. “You’re an entirely different piece of work.”

They finish the rest of their meal in silence. Korra leaves behind the teapot. “Save it for visitors.”

“It’s only you.”

“Then save it for me.”

*

The clothes Korra had brought have been modified to suit her new appendages, but the drawback is that they’re far more revealing than she’s used to. For three years she’d worn armour, and the Great Uniter’s uniform had become as much a part of her as her bending. Now changing to a butchered tank tied at the neck and waist, she feels as naked as if she were running around in her undergarments. It also means she can’t quite ignore the feathers growing in at her shoulder, at her elbow.

“Can you fly?” asks Xin one day, one of the guards that does the day shift. She’s a young woman Kuvira’s age, hair wound tightly at the nape of her neck, the grey uniform she wears making her brown skin look washed out. She looks like she could have been an officer in Kuvira’s army.

“I haven’t tried,” Kuvira confesses. She pushes her empty tray through the slot in the door. “Not a lot of space for it in here.”

“Maybe if we put you on a leash we could--”

“Don’t you even fucking think about it,” Kuvira snarls. She slams her fist into the door, forgetting she can no longer bend the metal beneath to blunten the impact. She breaks two of her talons, and splinting the curved digits becomes an ordeal in and of itself. 

Korra comes again the next day. 

“It wasn’t deliberate,” Kuvira tells her. “I didn’t mean to break my hand.”

“Okay,” says Korra. “That’s good.” Then she asks. “ _Do_ you want to try flying?”

“Do you think I could?” Kuvira asks. Terrible leash jokes aside, she’s been tormented by the same curiosity. There is no space here in the prison to stretch her wings, so she is haunted by the shape of them, hunched over her back, curled in like a misshapen limb. The pinion feathers at the end are crooked, bent out of shape from brushing against the floor and being bashed against the wall. Her back has ached for weeks.

It takes several days, but finally Kuvira is given special dispensation to use the prison yard, under heavy guard and only under Korra’s supervision. The police chief is there too, her deep scowl telling Kuvira she’s completely opposed to the whole thing.

“Let’s get this on with,” she snaps. To Kuvira: “Try to escape and we’ll shoot you down.”

Kuvira walks to the center of the yard, Korra by her side. There she stops, stretches her arms. Kicks off her boots, curling her taloned toes into the dirt. 

“Come on,” says Korra. “Don’t be afraid.”

“I’m not afraid,” snaps Kuvira. Never afraid. She spreads her wings.

They’re huge. Stretching at least fifteen feet across each wing, the feathers a deep and glossy black. In the bright afternoon sunlight, they shimmer in greens and blues. “Spirits,” Korra breathes. “They look amazing.”

Spirits indeed. Kuvira supposed it could have been worse. She could have been turned into half a carrot. Wings are one of the less offensive things, on the vast, messed up scale of spirit interference. 

Since she hasn't stretched them out since she’s had them, it takes a while to get used to the weight and balance of them. The first flap sends her staggering into Korra, and when she stretches them back to balance herself, she ends up falling on her ass. “You probably have to practice a little,” says Korra.

Having grown up a prodigy in bending, and an impatient one at that, Kuvira’s not used to not being good at something. It’s been a while since she had to learn something from scratch. But by the time the sun starts to set, she can drift around the yard, several feet above the ground. The feeling is exhilarating, the freedom of it almost making up for the loss of her bending. She can’t wait to hone this skill as she has every other, until the sky is hers. She almost smiles as Korra bends a wind funnel under herself, rising to Kuvira’s level.

“That’s it for today,” she says, sounding a little apologetic as she puts her hand on Kuvira’s shoulders and tugs her gently back down. “Next time again, yeah?”

Kuvira nods, her joy rapidly fading. She knows neither of them are sure when the next time will be. Now that she can fly, security measures will likely be tightened.

She makes them some tea before they leave, with the Tieguanyin Korra has brought with her. Korra tentatively offers to help straighten out her askew pinion wings, and Kuvira, to her own surprise, finds herself shyly accepting. The touch is nice, so nice; she’s almost forgotten how soothing simply intimacy could be. And Korra has deft, gentle hands.

Not so much tact though. “Um,” she begins, and then decides to drop the bombshell. “Your trial will be in two months. If you plead guilty we can arrange for some of your sentence to be commuted as hard labour, in service of the Earth Kingdom.”

“You mean indentured servitude.”

“Your other option is life in prison. Take the plea bargain.”

Kuvira stares into the dark clear depths of her now cold tea. “I’ll think about it,” she says. When Korra leaves, she takes all the warmth with her. Kuvira folds her wings over her body, and contemplates what she’s willing to do to get out of here.

*

“There are tales of a spirit creature that lives in the mountain ranges of the Earth Kingdom, a beast with the body of a bird and face of a beautiful woman. It is a terrible creature of sharp talons and a commanding voice, a fearsome _tengu_ with long nails and eyes like a kite’s.” 

Some say it haunts the abdicated King Wu, terrorizing him in his dreams, which is why he has left the nation completely and now resides in the Ember Isles with his lover. Others say the beast only rouses to fight the Avatar, when it sees some kind of injustice being done against its people.”

And it is said that when the creature's debt is finally repaid, and it has gathered ten thousand pieces of new knowledge from the world, the great Wan Shi Tong will finally reveal to it the secret to return to its true form.”

Kuvira closes the book. “Well,” she begins, an immaculate eyebrow raised. “That ending is surprisingly accurate considering the rest of it is drivel. I’m almost surprised they didn’t add that bit where I threatened to wring that feathery bastard’s neck.”

“It’s supposed to be for children.”

“I like the bit about me terrorizing Wu,” says Kuvira. “That lazy bastard deserves every sleepless night he’s ever had.”

“You’re being too critical,” scolds Korra. “He’s gotten a lot better. You’re here because of him.”

Kuvira scoffs, making a clicking noise low in her throat. Behind her glasses, her bright eyes gleam in the white electric light, yellow radiating outwards from the giant pupil, like a kite’s. Her long black hair has been smoothed back from her forehead and braided, though a few ruffled feathers stick out stubbornly along her hairline. She pours Korra another cup of tea, then scrapes a talon thoughtfully across the spine of the book.

“So who wrote this tell-all disguised as a fairy tale?”

“Someone wisely staying anonymous,” Korra says. “They’re supposed to be useful parables for children.”

That makes Kuvira throw back her head and laugh. “That’s brilliant,” she says. “What’s the moral? Don’t become a dictator or the spirits will turn you into a monster?”

“When I was younger,” Korra tells her, “I was told of an evil beast that would eat me should I try to escape the compound. It was only after I fought Zaheer when I realised that my mother was probably trying to keep me safe from the Red Lotus.”

“Wow,” says Kuvira, “that’s messed up.” She raises her teacup. “Here’s to childhood trauma.”

They drink.

“So,” says Kuvira, tossing aside the book. “Am I supposed to sign off on this?”

“Oh no. I just thought you’d find it interesting.”

“Sure. I’ll make sure to read it to the kiddies during story time, with all the scary faces.”

“You’ll do nothing of the sort,” says Korra, but she laughs, knowing Kuvira’s threat is a jest. That she values all the children who come into the Ba Sing Se library. “Add it to the collection.”

Kuvira brightens. “I’ll organise a book signing! The children can meet the author!”

“And so can you, huh?”

“They called me beautiful _and_ terrifying. I’ll take what I can get.”

Korra laughs again. When she’s done wiping tears from her eyes, Kuvira has gotten to her feet, and is pocketing her glasses. Her wings have fanned out slightly, knocking dust from the shelves. “Join me for a flight, Avatar? We can visit my parole officer. And I’ll show you this kingdom I supposedly still terrorize, with my terrible talons and my beautiful face.”

**Author's Note:**

> Kuvira's monster form is rather like Howl's from the Gibhli version of _Howl's Moving Castle_ , with slightly less full-body feather coverage.
> 
> I've wanted to turn Kuvira into a [tengu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengu) for a long time. Thank you for the opportunity!


End file.
